Starbucks suffers from increased competition

American coffee bar chain Starbucks has seen its first quarter turnover grow 9.4 % to 4.99 billion dollars (4.4 billion euro), which failed to trump analysts’ expectations.

China becomes more important

Analysts had forecast a 5.03 billion dollar (4.5 billion euro) turnover, but Starbucks faces increased competition in the United States, where other chains have learned how to copy Starbucks’ success. On the other hand Starbucks’ Chinese operations performed very well, with an 18 % turnover increase.

The company opened another 350 stores in the first quarter and now has 23,921 stores in total. The goal is to open 1,800 stores this year and to increase its focus on the Chinese market, which CEO Howard Schultz believes may become more important than the American home market.

Not all news was bad though, as first quarter net profit went up from 495 million dollars (440 million euro) to 575 million dollars (510 million euro).